Only the second Ottawa 67 ever drafted by the Senators (the others are Will Colbert in 2003 and Shane Prince this year), Cowick was coming off his best year in the OHL. A power forward whose career kicked off when he was brought to Ottawa from Oshawa, the hope was for continued improvement in his final season in the OHL. Unfortunately for Cowick, he was injured in the pre-season and played only 27 games.

Coming into his first training camp, Cowick was optimistic, “I just want to turn more heads. At development camp I think I did a good job of establishing myself as a player in the organization. I just want to continue that and take it day-by-day. I want to get in an exhibition game, so I want to prove myself enough at this rookie tournament so that I don’t give them a choice. I want to make them have to put me in an exhibition game and then go from there. For me, everything stays the same. It doesn’t matter where I am. I’m going to go out and hit as many people as I can. I don’t want to try to do too much and hinder my game.” Pierre Dorion said of Cowick, “Down the road, he’s got a big spot in our organization. We see him as a shutdown kind of guy who is going to play some important minutes against the other teams’ top lines in the future or even near future. What he’s got to work on is just executing quicker and moving the puck quicker. If he’s able to do things at a quicker pace, I think he’ll have a realistic chance of making our team” (http://www.ottawasun.com/sports/hockey/2010/09/10/15314321.html).

His rookie season did not go according to plan. Cowick began the year in Binghamton as a healthy scratch, with his primary competition for ice time being David Dziurzynski. When he did make it into the lineup, he got suckered into a fight with John Kurtz who concussed him. When Cowick was healthy again in mid-November there was no room on the roster for him, so he was sent to Elmira in the ECHL. Cowick remained in Elmira until mid-February, his numbers insignificant, with rumours of him clashing with coach Malcolm Cameron (who was fired in February). When NHL call-ups made room for him, Cowick enjoyed a good couple of weeks (scoring all his AHL points of the season) before becoming an unproductive fourth line player. With the return of all the NHL call-ups, he had no hope of getting into Binghamton’s lineup for the playoffs.

When he was interviewed this summer, Cowick talked about his lost development opportunity (www.ottawacitizen.com/sports/Sens+prospect+Corey+Cowick/5013381/ story.html?cid=megadrop_story), but said he wasn’t looking for a change of scenery and wanted to move up on the depth chart. Going into this year’s training camp, Cowick will be trying to make Binghamton’s roster, not Ottawa’s. I believe he’ll have a difficult time getting into the lineup; he will need to either start producing or else increase his physical play. Assuming he stays healthy and plays a full season, Cowick could put up 10-15 points.